Men's Volleyball

Men's Volleyball

Dave Schmidlin is in his first season as the head men’s and women’s volleyball coach at Lees-McRae College.

Schmidlin brings a wealth of coaching experience to Lees-McRae, previously serving as the head coach of the men’s volleyball program at Cardinal Stritch University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as well as the women’s volleyball coach at Oakland University (Rochester, Michigan) and the University of Saint Francis (Fort Wayne, Indiana).

Schmidlin led Cardinal Stritch to a 56-37 record in his three seasons at the helm, including a 26-13 mark during the 2010 campaign while leading the Wolves to the national semifinals. While at Cardinal Stritch, Schmidlin mentored three all-americans, seven all-conference performers, and one conference player of the year.

A native of Birmingham, Michigan, Schmidlin has a history of leading programs to success in the classroom as well, guiding his Cardinal Stritch team to a 3.3 grade point average over two seasons, with nine Wolves earning all-conference academic honors. His squad at Oakland also performed well in the classroom, maintaining a 3.3 GPA over the course of four seasons, as 25 Golden Grizzlies garnered all-conference academic recognition.

Schmidlin began his coaching career as the assistant men’s volleyball coach at Indiana University–Purdue University Fort Wayne, where he served as the recruiting coordinator, as well as the strength and conditioning coordinator for 10 years, four of which while pursuing his undergraduate degree. The Mastodons posted a 153-100 record during Schmidlin’s tenure at the Fort Wayne, Indiana school, earning three conference titles while advancing to the NCAA Tournament in 1994 and 1999.

The Birmingham, Mich. native graduated from IPFW with a Bachelor of Arts in general studies. He is a member of the American Volleyball Coaches’ Association, and has worked with the USA Volleyball High Performance Program as a talent evaluator for various national team programs for over 15 years.